Data File Two: The Frozen Mercury Zone
The Antarctic outpost was quietly being pelted with snow. The winds were down as Calvin Bartlett was no doubt thankful.
"So you're the new head of state for Antarctica? Welcome to the Frozen Mercury Zone."
'Author alright' thought Gannon. 'He can't shut his mouth and tries to be clever.'
"No kidding. " Gannon felt the Helicopter land. It felt like Bartlett flew the thing into the ground.
Bartlett swiveled back so he could Gannon. He studied him for a second or two and then offered his name.
"Name is Calvin Bartlett, most people in this place call me Bart. You are?"
Gannon sneered at having to introduce himself. Bartlett knew very damn well who he was.
"Kent Gannon, Representative for the company."
Bartlett held his gloved hand out past backseat of the Helicopter. Kent, reluctantly, reached for his hand, but Bartlett pulled it back and exited the Helicopter laughing to himself.
Gannon's eyes narrowed. "Oh, just great! Sonofabitch."
Gannon opened the door and slammed it shut. Somehow it managed to be colder than he expected. He couldn't see anything save for small-lighted poles. Each one was tied to a tug line.
He quickly shuffled himself towards the biggest building connected to the tug line. His clothes were nowhere near adequate for the Antarctic weather.
'A scorching hot bath and tons and tons of heating blankets.' He thought wishfully.
The building was up on concrete supports with a tall flight of stairs. He quickly opened the door and pulled himself in. He flicked the lights on and-
"SURPRISE!"
'oh my god.'
The place had an interior like some mountain cabin, it was beautiful, but the problem was that it was littered with Pizza boxes, streamers, glitter, and people in party hats. It was like he was someone else that had totally forgot his own birthday.
A huge banner tacked to the ceiling said 'Welcome' in big red letters. 'These are adults!' he reminded himself.
A pudgy fellow with a thick beard, glasses, and a John Deere hat came and shook his hand, nearly breaking it in half.
"David Zimmerman, So glad you're here, Mr. Gannon!"
Gannon's PR smile flickered on his face as long as he could hold it.
Another man shoved Zimmerman aside and choked his hand. He was a scrawny little guy with carrot red hair and thick coke bottle glasses.
He had a lab coat thrown over a ripped Tee shirt and a beer clutched in his left hand. He had a funny little grin on his face.
"Zachary Kraid, Mr. Gannon. Good to see a sane man again."
"I'll bet." Gannon added under his breath.
Zachary quietly stepped aside and then Gannon saw it.
'oh god!'
Behind Zachary was a nut puppy decked out with fake vampire teeth a Mickey Mouse hat with a Geordie Leforge visor.
"Live long and prosper, Mr. Romeo! Yonts, Jason Yonts."
'That fruitcake is Jason Yonts!'
He ran up to Gannon and bear hugged him. He pulled the Mickey Mouse hat off and tossed it aside with the visor. He was completely bald. He had round gray eyes with a small piggish nose. He was wearing a flannel plaid shirt with jean overalls.
He kissed Gannon on his right cheek then on his left cheek and then sat down. That strange experience left one unnamed man leaning against the wall. He was shaking his head to himself, and looked terribly embarrassed. As Gannon thought was appropriate.
He had a thick head of short gray hair; he was very tall and lanky. He looked like the only person in the room with a sensible appearance. He was wearing a respectable black button up shirt, with Khaki slacks, and shiny leather shoes. He walked up to Gannon and held out his hand.
Gannon quickly checked for a gag buzzer, and then grasped it passionately, as if he were the last sane man on earth.
"I'm sorry to have to welcome you this way, Mr. Gannon. I don't want to point fingers, but it was Mr. Yonts who orchestrated this little party. My name is Doctor Harry Landis. These are my colleagues. I was in charge because I was the only-"
"Sober." Cut in Jason.
Landis was glaring at Jason Yonts with his right eyebrow raised almost to the roof of his forehead. "Sane! Person in the camp. Although Mr. Zimmerman qualifies he wouldn't have it."
Yonts slammed his beer to the coffee table. "What about, Princess?"
'Princess?'
Landis' lip twitched like he was having some sort of psychotic episode. "Yeah, she's coming. KRIS!"
His glance wondered from door to door until he saw her.
Gannon was absolutely speechless. She had her dark hair pulled back into a ponytail that slumped down her back. She had on a red dress that sparkled as she walked. She had a dark complexion, which can't be natural in Antarctica. She looked almost Hispanic.
'Kris Landen is woman!!'
"Who's the pimp?" She said in a beautiful clear voice. Obviously hinting to his clothes.
Gannon had lost his composure and stopped time long enough to pick the pieces back up and put them together. He rebounded with a toothy grin.
"Kent Gannon, Miss Landen. And actually I'm from the Kentucky division." Her eyebrows raised.
"Oh, a hick pimp!"
She herself, looked like someone in desperate need of hooking up with a Southside LA pimp. Not like an acclaimed archaeologist. None of them matched they're titles.
'all oddballs'
"Sit down, Kent, and have a beer." Offered Bart.
Gannon snapped out of his thought phase. "Actually, I brought some medicine of my own." He pulled out of his deep- pocketed company coat, a bottle of 'Grand Marnier' brandy.
Dr. Landis shuddered and walked off as if he were being betrayed. "I'm going to bed" he said to himself.
Kris stamped her foot. "And I thought you were happy to see me."
Yonts nearly choked on his beer. "Honey, we are all happy to see you. Some people you just can't tell."
Zachary smacked his lips slow and obvious.
Ignoring Yont's disgusting remarks, Gannon held the bottle up. "For all who have glasses."
For some reason the appearance of Kris Landen, had opened him up a little to the group.
Zachary, Jason, and Bart all held up glasses. Gannon filled them all and stole one of his own and filled it. He sat down on what felt like a collapsing chair.
Jason downed half of his glass with one gulp. He made growling noise and shook his head violently.
"Damn, French drinks." He muttered to himself.
Gannon pointed his glass at him. "Watch that stuff or you'll be spending your next three hours with your head in a toilet."
"Yeah." He said still shaking the drink off. "So how's it like down in KY?'"
Gannon took a sip and allowed for it to settle.
"Warm."
Zachary laughed. "No shit? What's that like?" He asked
"Who needs warmth?" Piped up Kris in her nearly Hispanic accent.
"Well it sure as hell wouldn't hurt you any." Laughed Jason.
The gaggle of men 'ooh' at the remark.
Kris laughed in spite of herself.
Zimmerman who had been quietly observing Gannon for the moment got up. "Ladies and Gentlemen I'm going to bed. The best of luck to you Kent. We'll start to work tomorrow. Jason, Zachary, Bart, Kris, good night." Zimmerman crawled himself out the big front door and shut it behind him.
"Gods, I hate it when someone does that." Said Zachary.
Gannon had to admit the cold burst from the open door was annoying. He tried to ward it off with a deep sip of his brandy.
"That brings up a question." Started Jason. "Where's Kent gonna sleep?"
Zachary rubbed his chin for a while. "Well, his room is still 'under construction. So I guess he'll have to bunk in with one of us."
"He can bunk in with me." Offered Kris.
"Oohh" cooed in Zachary and Jason.
Gannon nodded to himself. "Couch sounds fine to me."
He got a general laugh out of everyone except Kris who was smiling slyly. She shook her finger. "I did not mention a couch."
Yonts stretched and rose up from the couch. "Sounds like you've got a deal going for you, Kent. It's too damn late I'm going to bed. Thanks for the juice, Kent. Good night all." They all waved him off to bed and he put his coat on and opened the door sending yet another cold burst into the room.
Zachary downed the last gulp of brandy in his glass. He let it settle and got up. "Thanks for the drink, Kent." He plopped his hand down on Kent's shoulder. "It'll be good to have some direction and order to this mess."
"No problem, good to have met you." Kent replied, half asleep.
Zachary went down the hall to where he was no doubt sleeping. That left Kris and Kent alone. She was not looking at him the way she was when the room was full of people. She was looking at him as if he was something repulsive. "Come with me, I'll show you where you'll sleep."
He followed her to the door. She flung it open and walked out leaving the door open. The wind was really whipping now. Stinging his face with small crystals of snow.
He followed her down the flight of stairs and stepped down in snow just shy of knee-deep.
"You're not from Kronos are you?" She shouted over the wind.
Gannon felt something inside of him smile sadistically. "What do you mean 'from'?"
"I mean, 'of'"
This caught him off guard. "What?" He shouted back.
He was waiting for a reply, but looked up and saw that they were at her place. She opened the door for him and she walked in afterwards and slammed the door shut.
The place was warm. She had a mock fireplace in front of the bed. She had several heaters blowing constantly on the bed and near the door. He was inspecting the room and didn't see her grab the gun.
'Pretty classy for Antarct-'
She grabbed a handful of the back of his coat and shoved him on the bed. She cocked the handgun and held it to his head.
"Whoa WHOA! Stop!"
"Shut up cowboy, or I'll empty the magazine in your head. I meant, are you one of those, things?"
'Things? The hell?'
"Things? THINGS? What the hell are you talking about? Let me up!!"
She felt her finger tighten it's grip on the trigger, and then loosen. She tossed the gun aside.
"You're not, are you?"
"Lady, I have no clue what the hell you're talking about. God honest truth." She seemed kind of embarrassed, which Gannon couldn't help think was appropriate.
'They are all nuts!'
"You work with Kronos, right?"
'and?' he thought "Yeah, so do you!"
She shook her head. He could see tears welling up in her eyes. "I didn't know it. That's what happened last time the company sent someone. Only Zachary and myself were on the staff. Zachary made a decision that the commander disagreed with, everyone was already kind of tense. The commander changed into this thing with fur, ears, and claws."
Gannon felt suddenly very uncomfortable he got off the bed and began edging for the door.
She grabbed the gun and held it erect at his head. "You are staying here! I won't wait ten, twelve days and find out I was wrong."
He sighed and looked at her. 'No I won't stand this. I was supposed to be in charge here; that was supposed to be the LEAST that would happen. Sure I had to go to the edge of the world, freeze my ass off, and control a bunch of notebook nerds, BUT I was supposed to be in control!
"Great, just fuckin typical! And how am I supposed to prove to you I'm not a werewolf?! Stick myself with a silver pin? Transform? Well, I guess I'm screwed!"
She started sobbing but kept the gun dead on target.
'Damnit! Of all the things that could-!' "Alright, alright, hey, don't cry. Look, I'm not a monster! Okay, I'm touchy, mean, stubborn, obstinate, but not inhuman. I'll do whatever you ask to prove it."
Gannon was getting desperate. The company wasn't guilty of having monster commanders, but they were guilty of sticking him here in this hole of insane venomous people.
She stopped crying and uncocked the gun and sat it on the bedside table. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I just-"
"It's quite alright. I'm just a little upset. This is my first real assignment as an outpost commander." Gannon, in a gesture of good will, sat next to her on the bed and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Is it possible that perhaps you imagined this?"
She shook her head violently.
"No! No. Zachary and I saw it together. Zachary killed it and reported to the company that the commander got lost in a storm and died of hypothermia."
Gannon was becoming more and more sure that he had fallen victim to a drug addict who caught a bad batch of something nasty.
"Then why didn't Zachary approach me and ask me, why did he leave this up to you?"
"He. Last. He couldn't do it. After we killed him, the commander disintegrated, I think part of Zachary disintegrated too. He won't trust anyone. He keeps in his lab coat pocket a 1938 Beretta .380 caliper loaded with two hollow points. You try an jump up on him you'll get your head blown off. He wouldn't approach you, he'd wait for you to approach him."
'God she's a loon!'
"Is anyone else in the camp a monster?"
She scowled at him and threw his arm of her shoulder. "Don't you patronize me! Don't you dare!"
He held up his arms innocently. "I only asked!"
"No. If you're not one, none of these men are. Except-"
Gannon had to feign interest, if not for anything else just to keep his head. "Who?"
"Bartlett."
Gannon knew it now. She was mad. "The writer?"
"Yeah, that's what the company tells you, but have you ever heard of a Bartlett book?"
"Maybe he writes under an alias or a pen name, writers do that."
"Oh no I looked it up on our computer he has a lot of books out books like 'Strange Situations' 'Cadaver Gambit' and a few others."
"And?"
"And, you can't purchase any of them online. And there's only ten sites with his name in proper context. I checked the ISPs of all the sites, they were in different places, yes, but each site was located in the same city with a major Kronos headquarters."
Gannon felt himself enraged, but swallowed it. 'This is definitely a basis for report, but what the hell would I tell them.' "You have to admit that it could be a fluke."
"And you have to admit it's an extraordinary coincidence."
Gannon could force himself to reply no longer; he could only nod. He had to change the subject, or he'd snap and she'd shoot him. "What about you how come you're a archaeologist that knows so much about guns, books, and ISPs?"
Her eyes narrowed. "I like to have a broad range. What about you! Lets turn the firing squad around. What does a nobody hill hick Kronos lap dog doing in Antarctica?"
That did it. "Who the hell are you to judge me? I'm loyal to the company, yes, but you know nothing about me at all, are you so eager to alienate me?"
Her eyes dropped. "I'm sorry. You'll see what I mean tomorrow. Go to sleep."
Gannon scooted over to a side of the bed readily fell asleep, but Kris stayed awake her eye always on Kent and the gun.
The Antarctic outpost was quietly being pelted with snow. The winds were down as Calvin Bartlett was no doubt thankful.
"So you're the new head of state for Antarctica? Welcome to the Frozen Mercury Zone."
'Author alright' thought Gannon. 'He can't shut his mouth and tries to be clever.'
"No kidding. " Gannon felt the Helicopter land. It felt like Bartlett flew the thing into the ground.
Bartlett swiveled back so he could Gannon. He studied him for a second or two and then offered his name.
"Name is Calvin Bartlett, most people in this place call me Bart. You are?"
Gannon sneered at having to introduce himself. Bartlett knew very damn well who he was.
"Kent Gannon, Representative for the company."
Bartlett held his gloved hand out past backseat of the Helicopter. Kent, reluctantly, reached for his hand, but Bartlett pulled it back and exited the Helicopter laughing to himself.
Gannon's eyes narrowed. "Oh, just great! Sonofabitch."
Gannon opened the door and slammed it shut. Somehow it managed to be colder than he expected. He couldn't see anything save for small-lighted poles. Each one was tied to a tug line.
He quickly shuffled himself towards the biggest building connected to the tug line. His clothes were nowhere near adequate for the Antarctic weather.
'A scorching hot bath and tons and tons of heating blankets.' He thought wishfully.
The building was up on concrete supports with a tall flight of stairs. He quickly opened the door and pulled himself in. He flicked the lights on and-
"SURPRISE!"
'oh my god.'
The place had an interior like some mountain cabin, it was beautiful, but the problem was that it was littered with Pizza boxes, streamers, glitter, and people in party hats. It was like he was someone else that had totally forgot his own birthday.
A huge banner tacked to the ceiling said 'Welcome' in big red letters. 'These are adults!' he reminded himself.
A pudgy fellow with a thick beard, glasses, and a John Deere hat came and shook his hand, nearly breaking it in half.
"David Zimmerman, So glad you're here, Mr. Gannon!"
Gannon's PR smile flickered on his face as long as he could hold it.
Another man shoved Zimmerman aside and choked his hand. He was a scrawny little guy with carrot red hair and thick coke bottle glasses.
He had a lab coat thrown over a ripped Tee shirt and a beer clutched in his left hand. He had a funny little grin on his face.
"Zachary Kraid, Mr. Gannon. Good to see a sane man again."
"I'll bet." Gannon added under his breath.
Zachary quietly stepped aside and then Gannon saw it.
'oh god!'
Behind Zachary was a nut puppy decked out with fake vampire teeth a Mickey Mouse hat with a Geordie Leforge visor.
"Live long and prosper, Mr. Romeo! Yonts, Jason Yonts."
'That fruitcake is Jason Yonts!'
He ran up to Gannon and bear hugged him. He pulled the Mickey Mouse hat off and tossed it aside with the visor. He was completely bald. He had round gray eyes with a small piggish nose. He was wearing a flannel plaid shirt with jean overalls.
He kissed Gannon on his right cheek then on his left cheek and then sat down. That strange experience left one unnamed man leaning against the wall. He was shaking his head to himself, and looked terribly embarrassed. As Gannon thought was appropriate.
He had a thick head of short gray hair; he was very tall and lanky. He looked like the only person in the room with a sensible appearance. He was wearing a respectable black button up shirt, with Khaki slacks, and shiny leather shoes. He walked up to Gannon and held out his hand.
Gannon quickly checked for a gag buzzer, and then grasped it passionately, as if he were the last sane man on earth.
"I'm sorry to have to welcome you this way, Mr. Gannon. I don't want to point fingers, but it was Mr. Yonts who orchestrated this little party. My name is Doctor Harry Landis. These are my colleagues. I was in charge because I was the only-"
"Sober." Cut in Jason.
Landis was glaring at Jason Yonts with his right eyebrow raised almost to the roof of his forehead. "Sane! Person in the camp. Although Mr. Zimmerman qualifies he wouldn't have it."
Yonts slammed his beer to the coffee table. "What about, Princess?"
'Princess?'
Landis' lip twitched like he was having some sort of psychotic episode. "Yeah, she's coming. KRIS!"
His glance wondered from door to door until he saw her.
Gannon was absolutely speechless. She had her dark hair pulled back into a ponytail that slumped down her back. She had on a red dress that sparkled as she walked. She had a dark complexion, which can't be natural in Antarctica. She looked almost Hispanic.
'Kris Landen is woman!!'
"Who's the pimp?" She said in a beautiful clear voice. Obviously hinting to his clothes.
Gannon had lost his composure and stopped time long enough to pick the pieces back up and put them together. He rebounded with a toothy grin.
"Kent Gannon, Miss Landen. And actually I'm from the Kentucky division." Her eyebrows raised.
"Oh, a hick pimp!"
She herself, looked like someone in desperate need of hooking up with a Southside LA pimp. Not like an acclaimed archaeologist. None of them matched they're titles.
'all oddballs'
"Sit down, Kent, and have a beer." Offered Bart.
Gannon snapped out of his thought phase. "Actually, I brought some medicine of my own." He pulled out of his deep- pocketed company coat, a bottle of 'Grand Marnier' brandy.
Dr. Landis shuddered and walked off as if he were being betrayed. "I'm going to bed" he said to himself.
Kris stamped her foot. "And I thought you were happy to see me."
Yonts nearly choked on his beer. "Honey, we are all happy to see you. Some people you just can't tell."
Zachary smacked his lips slow and obvious.
Ignoring Yont's disgusting remarks, Gannon held the bottle up. "For all who have glasses."
For some reason the appearance of Kris Landen, had opened him up a little to the group.
Zachary, Jason, and Bart all held up glasses. Gannon filled them all and stole one of his own and filled it. He sat down on what felt like a collapsing chair.
Jason downed half of his glass with one gulp. He made growling noise and shook his head violently.
"Damn, French drinks." He muttered to himself.
Gannon pointed his glass at him. "Watch that stuff or you'll be spending your next three hours with your head in a toilet."
"Yeah." He said still shaking the drink off. "So how's it like down in KY?'"
Gannon took a sip and allowed for it to settle.
"Warm."
Zachary laughed. "No shit? What's that like?" He asked
"Who needs warmth?" Piped up Kris in her nearly Hispanic accent.
"Well it sure as hell wouldn't hurt you any." Laughed Jason.
The gaggle of men 'ooh' at the remark.
Kris laughed in spite of herself.
Zimmerman who had been quietly observing Gannon for the moment got up. "Ladies and Gentlemen I'm going to bed. The best of luck to you Kent. We'll start to work tomorrow. Jason, Zachary, Bart, Kris, good night." Zimmerman crawled himself out the big front door and shut it behind him.
"Gods, I hate it when someone does that." Said Zachary.
Gannon had to admit the cold burst from the open door was annoying. He tried to ward it off with a deep sip of his brandy.
"That brings up a question." Started Jason. "Where's Kent gonna sleep?"
Zachary rubbed his chin for a while. "Well, his room is still 'under construction. So I guess he'll have to bunk in with one of us."
"He can bunk in with me." Offered Kris.
"Oohh" cooed in Zachary and Jason.
Gannon nodded to himself. "Couch sounds fine to me."
He got a general laugh out of everyone except Kris who was smiling slyly. She shook her finger. "I did not mention a couch."
Yonts stretched and rose up from the couch. "Sounds like you've got a deal going for you, Kent. It's too damn late I'm going to bed. Thanks for the juice, Kent. Good night all." They all waved him off to bed and he put his coat on and opened the door sending yet another cold burst into the room.
Zachary downed the last gulp of brandy in his glass. He let it settle and got up. "Thanks for the drink, Kent." He plopped his hand down on Kent's shoulder. "It'll be good to have some direction and order to this mess."
"No problem, good to have met you." Kent replied, half asleep.
Zachary went down the hall to where he was no doubt sleeping. That left Kris and Kent alone. She was not looking at him the way she was when the room was full of people. She was looking at him as if he was something repulsive. "Come with me, I'll show you where you'll sleep."
He followed her to the door. She flung it open and walked out leaving the door open. The wind was really whipping now. Stinging his face with small crystals of snow.
He followed her down the flight of stairs and stepped down in snow just shy of knee-deep.
"You're not from Kronos are you?" She shouted over the wind.
Gannon felt something inside of him smile sadistically. "What do you mean 'from'?"
"I mean, 'of'"
This caught him off guard. "What?" He shouted back.
He was waiting for a reply, but looked up and saw that they were at her place. She opened the door for him and she walked in afterwards and slammed the door shut.
The place was warm. She had a mock fireplace in front of the bed. She had several heaters blowing constantly on the bed and near the door. He was inspecting the room and didn't see her grab the gun.
'Pretty classy for Antarct-'
She grabbed a handful of the back of his coat and shoved him on the bed. She cocked the handgun and held it to his head.
"Whoa WHOA! Stop!"
"Shut up cowboy, or I'll empty the magazine in your head. I meant, are you one of those, things?"
'Things? The hell?'
"Things? THINGS? What the hell are you talking about? Let me up!!"
She felt her finger tighten it's grip on the trigger, and then loosen. She tossed the gun aside.
"You're not, are you?"
"Lady, I have no clue what the hell you're talking about. God honest truth." She seemed kind of embarrassed, which Gannon couldn't help think was appropriate.
'They are all nuts!'
"You work with Kronos, right?"
'and?' he thought "Yeah, so do you!"
She shook her head. He could see tears welling up in her eyes. "I didn't know it. That's what happened last time the company sent someone. Only Zachary and myself were on the staff. Zachary made a decision that the commander disagreed with, everyone was already kind of tense. The commander changed into this thing with fur, ears, and claws."
Gannon felt suddenly very uncomfortable he got off the bed and began edging for the door.
She grabbed the gun and held it erect at his head. "You are staying here! I won't wait ten, twelve days and find out I was wrong."
He sighed and looked at her. 'No I won't stand this. I was supposed to be in charge here; that was supposed to be the LEAST that would happen. Sure I had to go to the edge of the world, freeze my ass off, and control a bunch of notebook nerds, BUT I was supposed to be in control!
"Great, just fuckin typical! And how am I supposed to prove to you I'm not a werewolf?! Stick myself with a silver pin? Transform? Well, I guess I'm screwed!"
She started sobbing but kept the gun dead on target.
'Damnit! Of all the things that could-!' "Alright, alright, hey, don't cry. Look, I'm not a monster! Okay, I'm touchy, mean, stubborn, obstinate, but not inhuman. I'll do whatever you ask to prove it."
Gannon was getting desperate. The company wasn't guilty of having monster commanders, but they were guilty of sticking him here in this hole of insane venomous people.
She stopped crying and uncocked the gun and sat it on the bedside table. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I just-"
"It's quite alright. I'm just a little upset. This is my first real assignment as an outpost commander." Gannon, in a gesture of good will, sat next to her on the bed and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Is it possible that perhaps you imagined this?"
She shook her head violently.
"No! No. Zachary and I saw it together. Zachary killed it and reported to the company that the commander got lost in a storm and died of hypothermia."
Gannon was becoming more and more sure that he had fallen victim to a drug addict who caught a bad batch of something nasty.
"Then why didn't Zachary approach me and ask me, why did he leave this up to you?"
"He. Last. He couldn't do it. After we killed him, the commander disintegrated, I think part of Zachary disintegrated too. He won't trust anyone. He keeps in his lab coat pocket a 1938 Beretta .380 caliper loaded with two hollow points. You try an jump up on him you'll get your head blown off. He wouldn't approach you, he'd wait for you to approach him."
'God she's a loon!'
"Is anyone else in the camp a monster?"
She scowled at him and threw his arm of her shoulder. "Don't you patronize me! Don't you dare!"
He held up his arms innocently. "I only asked!"
"No. If you're not one, none of these men are. Except-"
Gannon had to feign interest, if not for anything else just to keep his head. "Who?"
"Bartlett."
Gannon knew it now. She was mad. "The writer?"
"Yeah, that's what the company tells you, but have you ever heard of a Bartlett book?"
"Maybe he writes under an alias or a pen name, writers do that."
"Oh no I looked it up on our computer he has a lot of books out books like 'Strange Situations' 'Cadaver Gambit' and a few others."
"And?"
"And, you can't purchase any of them online. And there's only ten sites with his name in proper context. I checked the ISPs of all the sites, they were in different places, yes, but each site was located in the same city with a major Kronos headquarters."
Gannon felt himself enraged, but swallowed it. 'This is definitely a basis for report, but what the hell would I tell them.' "You have to admit that it could be a fluke."
"And you have to admit it's an extraordinary coincidence."
Gannon could force himself to reply no longer; he could only nod. He had to change the subject, or he'd snap and she'd shoot him. "What about you how come you're a archaeologist that knows so much about guns, books, and ISPs?"
Her eyes narrowed. "I like to have a broad range. What about you! Lets turn the firing squad around. What does a nobody hill hick Kronos lap dog doing in Antarctica?"
That did it. "Who the hell are you to judge me? I'm loyal to the company, yes, but you know nothing about me at all, are you so eager to alienate me?"
Her eyes dropped. "I'm sorry. You'll see what I mean tomorrow. Go to sleep."
Gannon scooted over to a side of the bed readily fell asleep, but Kris stayed awake her eye always on Kent and the gun.